Parents

Newsletters

All school notices, newsletters etc are sent home with the youngest child in the family. Our newsletter ‘South News” is sent out usually on a Tuesday. Our newsletter is also accessible through the Sentral app, Facebook page and email (if requested).

Sentral Portal

Sentral is our student management system and parent communication portal. This can be used via the internet or the Sentral app on your phone or tablet and can enable you to access messages to teachers, absences, newsletters, reports and much more. Families will be given log on and access details at the start of the school year.

Facebook

We welcome you to visit the Kerang South Primary School Facebook page. Here you can follow along with the latest news and upcoming events within our school community.
This group was created to share information about what is happening at our school with the wider community. Please follow the rules of the page.
Once you have joined this page, there are very strict rules that will need to be followed. These are outlined below.

  • You may upload photos only of your child. No other child can be visible in the photo.
  • It is not a place to raise issues about the school or class. If your child has had an issue at school, you must the school (54503900) personally so this issue can be discussed and resolved in an appropriate manner. Facebook is not the place to air grievances about other students, teachers or the school.
  • No student to student discussion.
  • If you need to contact the school during the day, you will still need to phone ( 54503900) as the Facebook page won’t be regularly checked during the school day

School Council

All government schools in Victoria have a School Council. They are legally formed bodies that are given powers to set key directions of a school within centrally provided guidelines.
School councils are groups who make decisions that set the direction of the school. They help create and check the school’s budget and financial affairs of the school, contribute to the school strategic plan, the employment of staff, the maintenance of grounds and buildings and make decisions on policies like investments, payments by parents, dress code and other priorities of the school.

There are three categories of members for school councils.
They are:

  • Elected parent category
  • Elected DET employee category
  • Optional community member category

    The council at K.S.P.S. consists of 11 members with 6 being parents, 4 being DET employees and 1 being a community member and they meet on the 4th Monday of each month.

    Any interested parent who wishes to stand for election for school council must complete a nomination form. Nomination forms are available from the principal and open Feb. 17th. If there are more nominations than there are school council positions then a ballot will be held.

Parents Club

Kerang South has a very active parents club which fundraises for the school through a variety of activities. Parents club provides an opportunity for parents/families to become involved in school life and also build friendships with people who share common interests and concerns. The committee is highly valued organisation within our school that performs an extremely significant role in the raising of funds and school community spirit.

Our joint Presidents in 2021 are: Leah Ferrari and Allisha Wilkinson. The members meet for either a meeting at the school or a dinner meeting to discuss upcoming events and work with our Principal, Business Manager and Teachers to run the events.

Our Parent club helps:

  • Run events e.g. mother’s day stall, father’s day stall, sausage sizzles, etc.
  • organise social gatherings e.g. Bush Dance, Scrapbooking Retreat, Footy Hot Dog Days, Colour Run, etc.
  • run fundraising for the school e.g. raffles, Bunnings BBQ’s, Bulb fundraisers, etc.

Some of the funds raised from our Parents Club goes/has gone towards:

  • The cost of school hats and reader bags for new prep students
  • Subsides the cost of the Grade 6 Graduation luncheon
  • Graduation Pens and Pupil of the Week pens
  • New parents welcome BBQ
  • Pirate Ship playground and upgrades

Parent clubs are valuable to the whole school community. They build relationships with community members and organisations for the benefit of students.

Parent clubs may:

  • create links between parents and teachers
  • organise welcome events for new students and parents
  • help with events like second hand book and uniform schemes, or Father’s and Mother’s Day celebrations
  • run fundraising
  • advocate for parent views on school policies
  • promote cultural and social diversity.

They:

  • do not run to make a profit
  • do not benefit any individual member
  • are not part of the school council and do not have formal responsibilities or powers.

Individual members of a parent club may be elected to school council or join a subcommittee.

Volunteers

Government schools have volunteer programs where you can get involved with school activities. At KSPS this could be helping with:

  • The school canteen and Fresh Fruit Friday
  • Classroom reading/helping
  • Uniform store
  • Sports coaching
  • Working bees
  • Covering library books
  • School excursions and events
  • Parents Club, School Council committees and cultural groups, or more.

You may need to apply for a working with children check.

We appreciate all helps that’s offered!

Canteen

“The South Snack Shop”

We are very lucky to have a school canteen run by our parent volunteers.

The Canteen is currently open for lunch orders on Thursday’s and Friday’s only (depending on helpers). Orders are placed in tubs in the classroom.

We also open the canteen for snack sales at Recess and Lunch times on Monday – Wednesday which is manned by our Grade 5 & 6 students.

We are always looking for helpers/volunteers in our canteen as we rely on our family support in order to run it. Rosters are organised each term.

Please contact the school for more information.

Uniforms

Kerang South is very proud of our uniforms.

The school uniform is compulsory. Children look very smart in the Kerang South uniform! It encourages a sense of pride in the school, promotes connectedness to the school community and it is priced within the reach of families. As well, it saves the hassle of deciding each day what to wear and potential argument over suitable clothing. The school supplies new and second-hand items of uniform. News of the availability of items and the contact details is printed regularly in the school’s newsletter. The school also sells sturdy library/project bags in school colours.

Kerang South is a Sun Smart school! All children are required to wear the school uniform whenever they represent the school or participate in an excursion, unless otherwise stated. Similarly, all children must wear the school hat in the playground and apply sunscreen. The school council has determined that all students will be required to wear the school’s broad-brimmed hat from the mid-August until the 1st May for physical education/sport sessions, during excursions and whilst in the playground during school hours. Those students not complying with this requirement will be denied the outdoor activity. On out-of-uniform days, the students are also expected to be sun smart.

The Parents Club supplies each new Prep child with a hat, a reader bag and a classroom book box free of charge. It is requested that parents purchase through the school a waterproof library bag with the school logo. (Approx. $10.00)

Summer Uniform – Girls

Brown and white gingham dress with a collar and cuffs on a set-in or cap sleeve. Girls may wear short black bike shorts under the dress to encourage playground activity. Girls may also wear brown school shorts or skorts with a gold polo shirt. Appropriate shoes, sneakers or leather sandals must be worn with short white, brown or black socks.

Summer Uniform – Boys

Brown school shorts, gold polo shirt with collar and logo. Appropriate shoes, sneakers or leather sandals worn with short white, brown or black socks.
SCHOOL HAT – boys and girls. Official, broad-brimmed school hat with the school logo.

Winter Uniform – Girls & Boys

Brown windcheater with school logo, gold polo shirt (long or short sleeved) and brown track suit pants (fleecy or cotton). Girls may wear a brown skort with brown tights. Yellow or brown beanies and woollen brown or yellow scarves (not football hats or scarves) may be worn outside. We do sell beanies with our school logo. School windcheaters with the school logo must be worn under coats not a coat instead of a windcheater. Waterproof shoes.

Clothing Other then Uniform

Please ensure children are sensibly dressed for school each day. Students who must attend the school temporarily out of uniform—and preferably with an accompanying note—must observe the following restrictions.

  • Bathers, basketball briefs, boxer shorts and tank tops are NOT to be worn to school as outer garments.
  • Thongs, slip-on shoes and surf-type sandals are not to be worn.
  • Boxer or bike shorts should not be seen below the shorts or dress hemline. *
  • Winter and summer uniform is not to be mixed e.g. dress with long pants.

It is highly recommended that children change into suitable shoes for Physical Education and Sport.

Jewellery & Make Up

Except for watches and plain studs or sleepers in pierced ears, all jewellery is banned. Nail polish is not acceptable. Students will be asked to remove nail polish and make-up is not allowed. Plain black, brown or yellow headbands or brown / yellow ribbons may be worn.

Uniform Store

Uniform store opening times are advertised in the newsletter.
Orders and money for new uniforms may be sent to school with the students and the order will be passed on to the uniform store to be filled the next time it is open or orders may be placed online.

Fresh Fruit Friday

Every Friday we are lucky enough to supply each classroom with a platter of fresh fruit and vegetables. The children look forward to their serve of fruit, they enjoy the familiar fruits, but they also have the opportunity to try fruit which they otherwise mightn’t get, such as dragon fruit and rambutan.

This is an initiative run by the school and relies on sponsorship ($50) and Woolworths Kerang who also donate to cover the cost of the food. We also require help from parents to purchase the items and cut them up. This is another easy way to get involved in the school and rosters are organised each term for those who can help out.

Breakfast Club

The School Breakfast Clubs program seeks to address the impact that disadvantage can have on education outcomes by offering free and healthy food for students in 1,000 Victorian government schools.

Research shows that a child’s ability to concentrate in class, self-regulate and learn is negatively impacted if they are hungry. It has been reported that the rising cost of living makes it increasingly difficult particularly for low-income families and families living in poverty to provide enough healthy food for all the family each week.

Kerang South staff run our school breakfast club with breakfast available Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Cereal, fruit tubs, muesli and toast with vegemite and honey are available from 8:30am.
Classrooms receive boxes of apples, oranges, pears and carrots throughout the term for snacking on and we also have packs of supplies for families.